First time home buyer words of advice?

You should check with your city or county and ask if they have any grants for first time home buyers. In the city I live in, there is a grant for about $30,000.00, I believe but they always come with terms so check it out. Maybe call your Chamber of Commerce and see if they know of any thing like that. Sometimes, and especially in these times, getting grants(which you don’t have to pay back) and loans are fairly easy. Also check out websites for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack, they are gov’t websites for home buyers. Good luck….we are headin’ the the same direction.

It ain’t official until escrow closes. Nothing’s final until you get the keys. Always have a backup option, and don’t get too emotionally attached to any one home, at least until you have satisfied the first two conditions above.

Meet with a professional financial adviser unrelated to any lender and work out a financial plan and budget to evaluate how the purchase of a home will fit into your entire financial picture.

Your credit history is important aspect of how a bank evaluates you. I would figure out your credit score and see if there is anything you can do to improve your score (i.e. cancel a few credit cards if you have a handful, like store-specific credit cards). More info at link below: http://homebuying.about.com/cs/yourcreditrating/a/credit_score.htm

Do not be so in love with the house you choose that you accept unwarranted changes at closing. Get all your promises in writing. If the terms are not what you expected, walk away. There are a lot of houses that can meet your needs.

Do some hand exercises. You are going to have a lot of papers to sign.
Before you enter into an aggreement with a realtor check out their credentials.
Don’t get a house the reality company is representing. Sometimes that will screw with your bargaining power.
Never agree to purchasing at full price without getting something extra to sweeten the deal. This is a buyers market right now. But don’t mug the people. You may lose the house you had your heart set on.
Don’t move into your house the same week of purchase. Give yourself time in case the signing day gets bumped, especially if the owner is out of town.
Try to do as much paper work as you can possibly do ahead of time before looking for a house. It will help speed things along if you should find a house you have to act on quickly.

The best thing you can do is get some professional real estate advice and helpful home buying tips from CENTURY 21, but most importantly – think twice about what your buying.

Find a good realtor. They can show you any property, even if it’s not their listing. They can also help you through all the paperwork.
If your willing to wait 6 months + to get in, consider buying a short sale. You can usually get it at a lower price for the inconvenience of having to wait. If you do, make sure your realtor has experience getting short sales closed. It takes a certain finesse.
Keep a $3,000 to 5,000 reserve account for unexpected repairs. You can’t just call the landlord if your heater goes out. You might also want to consider a home warranty (about $300–600) that will cover the cost less a $50 or $60 co pay for a lot of home repair items. Read the small print though. Some of them are scams and will cover every part of the dishwasher except the part that always breaks down.
Just know that there will usually be unexpected costs at closing. Allow yourself a $500— $1000 cushion for things that come up that someone forgot to tell you about.

Get a GOOD inspection. KNOW if there are any repairs what they are going to cost. A house can look fine but a wole mess of problems can come up once you’re actually living there. And make sure you understand what issues the inspection brings – understand what’s a big vs moderate vs small problem. And don’t be afraid to walk away from a deal that isn’t as great as you thought because you’ve fallen in love with a house. Figure out the maximum you’ll spend – which may be a lot less than you’re pre-approved for – and don’t go over what you can afford because it’s so perfect etc.

Don’t go OHMYGODILOVETHISHOUSE when you see the one you love. You’ll be in a much better negotiating position.

If you are really, really in love with a place, don’t try to lowball them. I’ve lost two places because I started off too low.

Oh, 2 more things about realtors. Don’t choose someone who is a friend of a friend or even a friend or relative. They sometimes think they can slack off because they know you. I also know I’m going to hear a lot on this next statement but don’t choose someone who has a very traditional family. Home by a certain time to have dinner with the kids and spouse and who wants to be able to go to all the childrens games and social events. I say this because this is the largest and most important purchase of your life. Yes, many of us have families but you want a go getter realtor who has his or her clients interests at a higher level than dinner at exactly 6 o’clock or Little Timmys football game on Saturday morning. I got royally screwed with one just like that. She never was available. We always had to reschedule because of her childrens activities and as a result I missed out on a good deal. From that point forward I had to do all the house searching on my own and find another house on my own. Of course she was also a friend of a friend. I also had to do all the calls and hunt people down to expedite paper work because she was hardly ever in the office. Not because she had other clients but because the kids were sick or her husband came home early or something like that. I did all the work and she got the commission for doing crap. I later went with a friend to go house shopping with a real realtor. She did all the leg work and told him she was available any time. Her children were grown and she said her job was her life.
It only took her one week to find him a home and she managed all the paper work and stuff. He didn’t have to lift a finger. She really earned her commission. On top of that she even got him quite a deal during a sellers market. She would call him on the weekend to let him know how everything was going and work late at night. Of course she did this while taking care of other clients as well. I think they are hungrier to do a job well when they only have themselves for finacial support.

Don’t go over budget with how much you can afford, and checkout all extra living expenses incurred on the property, eg… gas, electric bills etc. Ask yourself, can you live comfortably there without overstretching yourself.

To add to @thebull – stay within your budget now and do not bank on future earnings or increases.